Budding
by Doorhandletable
Summary: Sakura tries to find the perfect way to tell Sasuke that she's pregnant.


"Congratulations, Sakura-sensei."

Sakura said a quick goodbye to her temporary colleagues and started walking back to the inn where she and Sasuke were staying. They had arrived in the tiny remote farming town of Hiyokuna, close to the border of the Land of Vegetables two weeks ago, expecting to stay for just a night. It was supposed to be just a short stop on their endless journey. Shortly after they arrived, Sakura had found out that the tiny remote town's only doctor had recently left the village unexpectedly to care for their elderly parents. They were expecting a replacement doctor to arrive soon, but in the meantime, Sakura had volunteered to fill in until the new doctor could get there.

She hadn't suspected anything when she missed her period. She had always had an irregular cycle, which was normal for an active kunoichi such as herself, and going a few months without a period wasn't unusual for her. A few days after they arrived in the village, Sakura had started experiencing nausea. She didn't have a fever or any other signs of an infection so she had assumed it was from eating the food at the inn. It was not exactly the most hygienic place she and Sasuke had stayed at. It wasn't until she was forced to interrupt an appointment for the third time that day to run to the bathroom that one of the nurses, a mother of two herself, suggested that she could be pregnant.

She had initially laughed off the suggestion and only took the test to make the nurses happy. She was stunned when the results came back clear as day: she was pregnant. About seven weeks along, she calculated in her head.

It must have been Sasuke's birthday, she thought to herself. They'd been staying in a large seaside town at the time. The town was well-known for its seafood cuisine, and they had gone out to a nice restaurant to celebrate Sasuke turning twenty-one years old. Neither of them were particularly big drinkers, but it was a special occasion. The two of them had been so drunk on love and sake that she had forgotten to perform the contraceptive jutsu.

It had been almost a year since Sakura had joined Sasuke on his journey. Sasuke had asked her to become his wife on New Year's Eve and they had married two days later in a small temple in a tiny backwater town in the Land of Mountain Streams. She had always dreamed of having a family with Sasuke, but this was way too soon. They were only twenty-one. They were practically still kids themselves. She had pictured them returning to Konoha and living as a young married couple for a few more years before they started a family.

Sakura had been shocked when she had first found out earlier that day, but she was quickly warming to the idea. She loved the admittedly impractical thought of a little baby accompanying her and Sasuke on their travels. The image of Sasuke with a tiny version of himself strapped to his chest warmed her heart.

* * *

"Sakura?"

Sakura awoke with a jolt to see Sasuke looking down at her curiously. She had felt a wave of nausea come over her as soon as she returned to their room at the inn, and collapsed face down on a pillow, too sick and too exhausted to properly lay out the futon. Morning sickness, she had realized, was a misnamed affliction.

"Why are you on the floor?" Sasuke asked, holding his hand out to her. His skin was glistening with sweat and there were grass stains all over his clothes. While Sakura was working at the clinic, he had decided to help out some of the local farmers on their properties, forever on his quest for redemption. Sakura certainly wasn't complaining. Somehow being all sweaty and dishevelled made him look even more handsome.

"I'm fine, darling," Sakura insisted, taking his hand and allowing him to help her up. "I was just a little tired after work."

She smoothed the wrinkles out on her clothes and rubbed a sore muscle on her lower back. Her back had been hurting her a lot lately. Sakura wondered if it was another pregnancy symptom she had ignored or if the months of sleeping on the ground and carrying a heavy bag around had finally caught up to her.

"Ah," Sasuke said, though he didn't look entirely convinced. "I'm going to take a shower and then we can have dinner."

Sakura nodded. Sasuke turned and started walking towards the hallway so he could shower in the communal bathroom.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun," Sakura called before he could disappear out the door.

Sasuke stopped and looked back at her.

"I-"

Sakura stopped herself. She was going to tell him about her pregnancy, but somehow this didn't seem like the right time to tell Sasuke he was about to become a father. That moment should be special. She had to find the perfect way to break that news to him.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"You look especially handsome today, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, because it was the first thing she could think of, and also because it was true.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted in response, though Sakura saw a small smile on his face as he turned back towards the hallway.

* * *

While Sakura thought she had kept her exhaustion and nauseousness well-hidden, she was surprised when the nurses at the clinic basically forced her to finish work early the next day out of concern for her. As she walked down the main street of Hiyokuna, she saw a peculiar sight: her husband, clad in his black cloak, standing in the middle of the street reading a book with a detailed illustration of a velociraptor on the cover. He was standing next to a covered stall lined with bookshelves manned by a rather puzzled-looking bespectacled older gentleman.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura called as she approached him.

Sasuke looked up, surprised to hear his name being called. His expression softened when he saw her approach.

"Ah, Sakura."

"What are you reading?" Sakura asked.

"I was walking back to the inn and I… got distracted," Sasuke admitted, showing her the book he was reading.

Sakura smiled. Her husband may act tough, but on the inside, he was still the same little boy she had first met at the academy all those years ago.

Sakura surveyed the shelves of books curiously. She would have asked the bookseller if he had any books related to pregnancy if Sasuke hadn't been there. While she was a doctor, maternal health and infant care were nowhere near her specialty.

An idea sprung into her mind. She would ask the bookseller if he had any pregnancy-related books and Sasuke would figure it out on his own.

"Do you have any pregnancy books?" she asked the bookseller.

Sasuke looked up and his eyes widened slightly. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, thought for a moment, then shook his head and reconsidered it.

The bookseller dropped a stack of books on the table in front of them. Sakura looked through the titles.

"I'll take all of them," Sakura said, pulling her money out of her bag. She pointed to Sasuke's dinosaur book. "That one too."

Sakura paid, picked up the books, and she and Sasuke started making their way back to the inn.

"Sakura, uh…" Sasuke began, as they turned off of the main street.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said leaning towards him expectantly.

"Do you want me to help you carry those?"

It was a flawed plan, Sakura thought as she lay in their futon that night, her head resting on Sasuke's stumped left arm. She was eager to learn and Sasuke knew she read medical books all the time. It would not seem that out of the ordinary for her to be reading pregnancy-related material.

* * *

The new doctor arrived the next afternoon. Sakura said her goodbyes to the nurses she had worked with and left to go back to the inn to pack as she and Sasuke were going to be leaving the next day. Sakura stopped by the market place to buy food to take with them. As she was buying a big bag of rice from a stall, she noticed a small shop hidden between a bakery and an antique store. There was a sign above the door that said 'Kaki's Toy Store'.

Sakura figured that it wouldn't do her any harm to take a look inside. As she entered the store clutching the bag of rice, she noticed the racks of baby clothes at the back of the store. It was as she was absentmindedly running her hand across the fabric of tiny newborn baby-sized shirts and onesies that she came up with another idea.

She had never particularly liked sewing, but she kept a sewing kit on hand to mend clothes, which was more often than she had anticipated(Sasuke had turned out to be quite an overzealous lover). She had had a bunch of embroidered Uchiha crests made while they were travelling through the Land of Cotton shortly after they were first married. She would buy a little baby shirt or baby onesie and spend the night sewing the crest onto it. Sasuke would notice it and figure out that she was pregnant.

Her baby was due in the spring, if her calculations were correct, so she picked out a cute little yellow onesie with an adorable smiling bunny rabbit embroidered on the front.

That night, as they were relaxing in their room after dinner, Sakura settled down at the table with her sewing kit and the onesie she had bought and set to work as Sasuke sat down on the futon and read the dinosaur book they had bought.

Sakura was so proud to wear the crest of her husband's clan. Her clan, Sasuke often reminded her. It was probably just the hormones, but the thought of her own child proudly wearing the crest on their back made her blink away a few tears.

She put a hand to her belly and closed her eyes. It was silly. She was a doctor who had trained under Lady Tsunade herself, but she still had trouble wrapping her head around the fact that was a little person growing inside of her at that very moment. A perfect little mixture of her and Sasuke.

She smiled at the thought of a little Sasuke with spiky pink hair. She let her mind rest on that mental image for a few moments before she opened her eyes and glanced over at her husband.

And saw him fast asleep, inelegantly spread out across the futon, snoring softly as he clutched the book lightly in his hand.

Sakura smiled and gently tucked the onesie and her sewing supplies back into her bag. She sat down on the futon. She gently moved Sasuke's head so that it was resting in her lap. She would have to wait to tell Sasuke the news, she thought to herself as she stroked his hair with her fingers.

* * *

Sakura woke up feeling nauseous the next day. She had to force herself to eat breakfast, nibbling her dry toast as Sasuke watched her with concern.

They packed up and left Hiyokuna shortly after they finished eating. They were hoping to make it to the border of the Land of Rivers before dark. No less than two hours after they left, Sakura felt another wave of morning sickness come over her. She quickly ran into a cluster of trees and heaved behind a tree.

"Sakura," she heard Sasuke's voice say as she was wiping her mouth with a leftover napkin from breakfast. "Are you okay?"

Sakura looked up to see Sasuke standing over her, a look of concern on his handsome face.

"I'm fine, Sasuke-kun," Sakura insisted, forcing a smile. "Nothing to be worried about."

There was a stain on her shirt, her breath probably smelled terrible, and she wasn't confident that she wouldn't throw up again. This was not the right time to tell Sasuke about the baby.

"You keep getting sick," Sasuke reminded her.

"Sasuke-kun, I told you, it was the food at the inn," Sakura said, waving her hand dismissively,

"I ate the same food you ate and I didn't get sick once," Sasuke said, looking at her suspiciously.

"I guess you just have a better constitution than I do," Sakura said, giggling nervously.

Sasuke frowned.

"Sakura, there's something wrong, I can tell," he said.

"Sasuke, I'm fine," Sakura, trying to reassure him. "I'm a doctor. I would know."

"There's something you're not telling me," Sasuke said. "I'm your husband. I would know."

Sakura looked down at her feet and bit her lip. She really wanted this moment to be special, but Sasuke was getting suspicious. What choice did she have?

Sakura looked back up at Sasuke and took a deep breath.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm pregnant."

Sasuke's eyes widened with shock and his mouth fell open a little. Sakura had never seen her usually stoic husband this bewildered.

"Sakura..." he breathed.

Sakura reached out and placed Sasuke's hand on her stomach.

"We're going to have a baby," she continued, smiling up at him. "A little Uchiha. You're going to be a father, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke stared down at his hand resting on her belly. Sakura's heart sank. Was he… unhappy about this?

"I know that we're still so young," Sakura said quickly. "And that it's not exactly an ideal time for us, but I-"

"A baby, huh."

Sasuke looked back up at Sakura. He was smiling at her and he was happier than she had ever seen him.


End file.
